Manny Bermudez celebrates after defeating Benito Lopez in a bantamweight fight at UFC on ESPN at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Bermudez won by submission in the first round. Joe Camporeale / USA TODAY Sports

UFC on ESPN: Velasquez vs. Ngannou

Manny Bermudez celebrates after defeating Benito Lopez in a bantamweight fight at UFC on ESPN at Talking Stick Resort Arena. Bermudez won by submission in the first round.
Joe Camporeale / USA TODAY Sports

Francis Ngannou landed a short uppercut on a charging Cain Velasquez that stunned the former champ. Then hit him with another. Velasquez toppled over, twisting his knee in the process and Ngannou landed a few more strikes until he got the early stoppage 26 seconds into the fight.

Talking Stick Resort Arena is packed. Tonight’s event appears to have drawn a bigger crowd than the average Suns game. Both the lower and upper bowls are mostly full.

Cain Velasquez walked out to the Octagon to Mariachi music and entered it to a predictably big roar.

Francis Ngannou entered the ring to 2Pac. The crowd seems, not just for Velasquez, but very against the No.3-ranked heavyweight.

Paul Felder (16-4-0) beats James Vick (13-3-0) by unanimous decision

ROUND 1

The No.10-ranked lightweight James Vick landed a couple of combinations early in the round, showing his height and reach advantage, but Paul Felder came back late in the round with a spinning back fist and follow-up strikes, staggering Vick and stealing the round.

10-9, Felder.

ROUND 2

Felder continues to come forward, but Vick’s left-right combinations have stood out in this fight. Something to pay attention to in the third are the kicks Felder is landing on the skinny legs of Vick.

10-9, Vick.

ROUND 3

A competitive and close round in a competitive and close fight. Felder clearly damaged Vick's legs, but he didn’t take full advantage of that injury. Both fighters landed big clean strikes, but Vick appeared to land a few more combinations.

10-9 Vick.

COMMENTARY

The judges gave Felder a unanimous decision; 30-27, 30-27 and 29-28. I thought Vick’s combos were impressive, but you can’t argue with Felder getting the win. Every round was very close. While leg kicks aren’t the most glamorous part of UFC, Felder landed them often and it proved to be a huge factor. He also landed a spinning back fist, a spinning back elbow and other big punches.

Cortney Casey is an Arizona native, but the loudest the crowd got for this fight was when they did the wave during the second round. The lone bright spot of an uneventful fight came in the third round when the crowd turned on the flashlights on their phones and lit up the arena, demonstrating their boredom.

The judges gave Calvillo, who was technically the aggressor in the first two rounds, the victory by unanimous decision.

Gracie quickly took Caceres down to the mat and applied a rear naked choke. Desperate to avoid his 12th career loss in 26 fights, Caceres held on for some time, but eventually tapped out.

Vincente Luque (15-6-1) defeats Bryan Barberena (14-6-0) by KO

The first round in this fight might have been the best of the entire night so far. Barberena walked to the ring to the song “Baby Shark” but it was Luque who was on the hunt early in this one. He stalked Barberena and delivered a set of big right hands. But Barberena scored a flash knockdown and pounced on Luque, looking to end the fight.

Luque caught his opponent coming in too aggressively and slipped him into a rear naked chokehold. On the edge of submission, Barberena fed off of the crowd’s energy and escaped. Suddenly, it was Barberena on top of Luque, throwing a huge strike, but Luque survived until the end of the round.The crowd went ballistic for the two.

The second and third rounds were similar to the first in that the striking continued. Both fighters landed big shots. Writers at ringside had Barberna winning the second round with his nice right and left hooks, but Luque finished the job in the third by landing an uppercut and then a high knee to Barberena’s head, causing the referee to stop the fight.

Andre Fili (19-6-0) beats Myles Jury (17-4-0) by unanimous decision

Andre “Touchy” Fili — amazing nickname for a fighter — bloodied Jury’s nose early by working a right-hand jab. Jury quickly countered with a spinning back fist that caused Fili’s knees to buckle. The crowd popped for the big strike, but Fili quickly shook off the blow.

However, in the second round, Jury hit another spinning back fist that sent Fili to the ground. Fili had to hold onto Jury just to make it to the third.

Neither fighter had any desire to wrestle in this one. The crowd groaned as the clock wound down and both men fought final round like they had the fight in hand.

The judges ultimately decided Fili’s jab was good enough to get him the win.

Their decision was unanimous with Fili winning 29-28 on all three scorecards.

Prelims

There were six preliminary bouts before the main card.

The highlights from the prelims included a unanimous-decision victory by Nik Lentz over Scott Holtzman in a hard-hitting lightweight bout between two veterans, and ranked match-ups in both the women's flyweight division and men's bantamweight division.

Andrea Lee, the No.14-ranked fighter in the division, showed off her striking to beat the No.12-ranked Ashlee Evans-Smith.

No.7-ranked Aljamain Sterling used several spinning back fists and a spinning back kick to beat No.5-ranked Jimmie Rivera by unanimous in the final prelim fight.